NOVEL NEXT Chapter 33.2
33.2. Endless Summer 2
“──Uoooooohhh!!”
A battle cry erupted from Nord’s mouth. The combat between Nord and the General Spider, which had clashed at close range, was reaching a fever pitch. The General Spider slashed with its forelimbs, and Nord blocked with his shield. The General Spider tried to bite, but Nord swung the jade blade to stop it.
Block, evade, defend, attack. Slash, parry, roll, jump back.
Nord endured the General Spider’s furious assault with his shield, deflecting its attacks, creating openings to inflict injuries in return. Although Nord was also wounded, receiving several hits from the General Spider, he had dealt even more damage in return. The scales on his Scale Armor were cracked and torn, gouged by the General Spider’s claws, and there was some bleeding. The General Spider, too, was covered in cuts, its carapace dented and cracked, its bristles soaked in blue blood.
It was impossible to count how many rounds they had fought. The battle, drawn out for so long, had created a balance between the two, leaving its mark deep within the forest of Alba. And now, that balance was beginning to tip in Nord’s favor.
Slash!!
One of the General Spider’s black eyes was sliced open by the jade steel sword. The General Spider let out a pained cry and flinched from the pain. Nord would not let this opening slip by. With determination, he pushed aside his fatigue and intensified his attacks.
Slash, strike, sever, crush.
Nord’s fierce onslaught, skillfully wielding both sword and shield, drained the General Spider of its fighting strength. The General Spider’s forelimbs were severed halfway, three out of its twelve eyes were destroyed, and its mouthparts’ antennae were broken off. Blood flowed freely from its body, its blue fluid staining the ground as it dripped. And then…
“──Haa!!”
With a powerful yell, Nord landed a full-force strike, driving the jade blade deep into the General Spider’s head, cleaving it in two.
“G… Gg… G…”
──Crash
The General Spider, its head destroyed by the fatal blow, writhed in convulsions, letting out a dying scream, before collapsing with a heavy thud to the ground.
“…………Hah, ……….Hah,” “Kyuuu~!? ”
Barely alive, Nord gasped for breath. His lungs, under the battered armor, inflated deeply as he struggled to take in air. He had been on alert, keeping an eye on his surroundings in case of a surprise third attack, but once he was sure no danger remained, he collapsed to the ground. Using his jade steel sword as a crutch, he managed to support his weight, but his legs had no strength left. Seeing this, Newt, who had been waiting at a distance, hurriedly flew over.
Newt landed beside Nord, worriedly approaching and licking Nord’s cheek.
“…………Heh, haha!”
Still breathing heavily, Nord couldn’t help but laugh at the sensation of Newt’s tongue brushing his cheek. Seeing Nord smile, Newt seemed to relax, its worried expression softening. After taking several deep breaths to steady his breathing, Nord sat down heavily on the mossy ground, letting himself rest.
Though still catching his breath, Nord felt some relief as his lungs filled with much-needed air. It would take a little more time before he could stand, but resting here would gradually allow his strength to recover.
While gently petting Newt’s head, Nord reflected on the fierce battle he had just fought.
The General Spider had been nearly twice the size of the Knight Spider he first encountered. Its combat power was beyond compare. Nord looked at his hand that had been holding his shield. Though covered in wounds, they were all minor. The Scale Armor was badly damaged, but that was to be expected. The armor’s role was to absorb the damage that would have otherwise been dealt to him. That was inevitable. As for the injuries on his body, most were light cuts and bruises, with one significant injury where a blow from the General Spider’s forelimb had shattered the armor’s scales, gouging the flesh underneath. However, even this injury caused no major hindrance to his movements, and though he was drained, there were no lasting effects. It was a resounding victory.
Nord clenched his fist tightly.
──I’ve grown stronger.
Nord felt the truth of his own growth. Could the version of him from six months ago, when he was promoted to Crystal-class adventurer and infiltrated the dragon’s nest, have fought like this? No, the answer came to him immediately. There had been several close calls during the battle with the General Spider. For instance, could he have avoided the initial ambush? Or defended against the charging attack? Could he have survived the following fierce exchanges? The answer was no in each case. The training he had undergone in the Iron Dragon Knights had drastically improved his abilities. His physical strength, swordsmanship, and defensive techniques with the shield had all been honed, and combat drills had sharpened not only his fighting instincts but also his intuition. The training from his elite dragon knight instructors, who were unparalleled in combat, had deeply engraved its lessons into his body.
The General Spider General was the maximum form of the Crystal-class Knight Spider, a monster whose strength was so formidable that only Bronze-tier adventurers or higher could hope to defeat it. Moreover, the General Spider Nord fought had twelve eyes. The General Spider refers to Knight Spiders that possess ten or more eyes. This meant that the General Spider Nord had faced was even stronger than the usual maximum form, a fact that proved that Nord’s abilities were quickly approaching those of top-tier Bronze-class adventurers.
Once Nord judged his stamina had recovered sufficiently, he stood up and walked toward the massive spider’s corpse. Monster materials must be harvested quickly after a kill, or they begin to spoil. The Knight Spider’s remains, in particular, must have started to degrade by now.
(Sigh… I’ll have a hard time carrying all this back.)
Excited by the unexpected harvest, Nord began collecting the valuable monster materials, pondering how he would carry two sets back.
Though the forest of Alba still bore the scars of the fierce battle, it slowly began to return to its peaceful silence.